Abstract
This final ethnographic chapter focuses on South Tyrolean responses to second language learning issues by concentrating on how parents, students, teachers, and politicians have learned to work around its education system. Through extensive interviews, Wand discusses what second language learning means to them while discovering how residents respond to language issues in education and South Tyrolean society. While some responses to bilingual education may vary compared to South Tyrolean students, she demonstrates why there is no catch-all ‘solution’ to addressing language issues in South Tyrolean education. Even though Italian-speaking politicians are in support of plurilingual education, more backing from German-speaking politicians will be needed for the province to explore bilingual learning. Until South Tyroleans agree on a solution to improve language learning in the province, it may take several years for South Tyrol to consider some form of a bilingual schooling system.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
See Chap. 5 for more information.
- 3.
For Figel’s exact title during the Barroso Commission (2004–2009) see: https://ec.europa.eu/archives/commission_2004-2009/index_en.htm (European Commission 2010) [Accessed 13 January 2022].
- 4.
See Pallaver for a more in-depth discussion on how the interests of civil society, or those ‘“from the bottom”’, can have an impact and/or influence on ‘cultural elites’ in creating better ‘interethnic cooperation’ (see 2014: 378, 385).
- 5.
The italics are from Abel et al. (2012a: 344).
- 6.
The italics are from Abel et al. (2012a: 345).
- 7.
The KOLPISI report indicated that ‘only 52.9% of Italian-speaking fathers and 64.5% of [Italian-speaking] mothers were born in [South Tyrol]’ as opposed to 95 percent of German-speaking parents who were born in the province (Abel et al. 2012a: 225).
- 8.
See Anon (2001). Mein Kind auf Probe. ff-Südtiroler Wochenmagasin, 29 March, cited in Marko, J., 2008. Is there a South Tyrolean ‘model’ of conflict resolution to be exported? In: Woelk et al., eds. 2008. Tolerance through law: self governance and group rights in South Tyrol. Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. Ch. 19, p. 386 for more information.
- 9.
For more information on ‘Un anno in L2’ see the South Tyrolean provincial administration’s website (Amministrazione Provincia Bolzano 2022): https://www.provincia.bz.it/formazione-lingue/scuola-italiana/imparare-lingue/un-anno-in-l2.asp [Accessed 3 February 2022] or the Provincial Autonomy of Bozen-Bolzano’s brochure, Un anno in L2: un anno particolare a un passo da casa (2017) at: https://www.provinz.bz.it/bildung-sprache/didaktik-beratung/downloads/Brochure_ita_2017.pdf [Accessed 9 November 2022].
- 10.
For more information on the required criteria to participate in ‘Un anno in L2’, see the Deliberazione della Giunta Provinciale 17 November 2008, no. 4250 or the Provincial Autonomy of Bozen-Bolzano’s brochure, Un anno in L2: un anno particolare a un passo da casa (2017) at: https://www.provinz.bz.it/bildung-sprache/didaktik-beratung/downloads/Brochure_ita_2017.pdf [Accessed 9 November 2022].
- 11.
Although the Ladin-speaking school system practices a form of bilingual education in mostly German and Italian, the Ladin-speaking school districts are limited to the more remote valleys of Val Gardena and Val Badia. For a more detailed discussion on the Ladin-speaking school system see my doctoral thesis, Half spaghetti- half Knödel: cultural division through the lens of language learning (2016): https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:d6391d08-30ea-4b78-8fce-c7ac684eb74a/download_file?file_format=pdf&safe_filename=THESIS01&type_of_work=Thesis [Accessed 11 June 2020].
- 12.
For more information on ‘Subtractive bilingualism’, see the Waterford.org website (2020): https://www.waterford.org/education/additive-vs-subtractive-bilingualism/#:~:text=Subtractive%20bilingualism%2C%20however%2C%20is%20when,their%20first%20language%20over%20time [Accessed 28 September 2022].
- 13.
- 14.
De Houwer discusses similar findings in her chapter, Harmonious bilingualism: well-being for families in bilingual settings when she states that ‘School and home are intricately linked: When children feel that their home language is respected at (pre)school, they will show less of a tendency to reject it’ (De Houwer 2019).
- 15.
For more information see ‘Foppa “Bilinguismo, SVP fuori dal tempo”’ (Anon. 2014) at: http://altoadige.gelocal.it/bolzano/cronaca/2014/01/29/news/foppa-bilinguismo-svp-fuori-dal-tempo1.8565530 [Accessed 7 September 2015].
- 16.
Ibid. Research by Hofer and Jessner also found ‘that individuals who live in more than one language…reveal significant differences from monolinguals in brain organisation and cognitive performance, which are demonstrably to their advantage’ (2016: 84).
- 17.
Ibid.
- 18.
For more information see ‘No alla scuola mista ma i ragazzi devono potersi incontrare’ (Anon. 2013) at: https://www.altoadige.it/cronaca/bolzano/no-alla-scuola-mista-ma-i-ragazzi-devono-potersi-incontrare-1.322227 [Accessed 4 October 2022].
- 19.
See ibid. for more information.
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Wand, A. (2023). Varied Responses to Bilingual Education. In: Segregation in Language Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32747-6_7
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